Manhattan Experimental Theater Workshop

a program of the Manhattan Arts Center in Manhattan, Kansas

Explore. Create. Perform.

Manhattan Experimental Theater Workshop (MXTW) is a program that challenges you to extend the boundaries of your creative potential by offering just enough structure and more than enough freedom to challenge every participant to their creative best.

For students who have completed grades 8-12 by summer 2024.

I learned what my full creative strengths are and how to collaborate with other people to realize a vision. I learned what being respected felt like and how to respect others in the same way.

Emma Galitzer

The Manhattan Experimental Theater Workshop (MXTW) brings high school students together to rejuvenate their sense of play and draw on their creativity to interrogate their world by exploring experimental theater-making techniques.

Participants become members in a company that will train together to learn performance skills and write, rehearse, and perform their own new plays.

The workshop is a fun and nurturing experience that invites students to unlock new potentials within themselves and share their voices. The company will meet several times a week for the five weeks of the workshop, which culminates with public performances on the final Friday and Saturday of the schedule.

MXTW is a wonderful and priceless experience. It taught me to think out of the box, to become comfortable with myself, to speak in a crowd, to dictate, to have confidence in the work I created.

Cara Hillstock
Participant in 2010 and 2011 and assistant director in 2015
Our 25th anniversary documentary

Our History

First begun in 1989 in Manhattan, Kansas, what turned out to be the “first Workshop” was to be a one-time event. But it seemed to fill a need and, so, it has continued for over 30 years.

MXTW has served hundreds of students and produced public performances of hundreds of original scripts.

MXTW was, and continues to be, a startling success. Because of the method MXTW employs, participants develop a high level of confidence. This leads to performances that often astonish even those who know the performers best—their friends and parents.